Google bans ads for bail bonds services

Google will no longer allow bail bonds services to advertise on any of its platforms, the company announced Monday.

The ban, which goes into effect in July, is part of Google's effort to keep misleading or harmful ads off of its platform. The company said for-profit bail bonds services take advantage of communities of color and low income neighborhoods "when they are at their most vulnerable, including through opaque financing offers that can keep people in debt for months or years."

Google's announcement was applauded by activists, including Vanita Gupta, the CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the former head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division under President Barack Obama.

"Bail bond advertisers drive their own profits by preying on vulnerable people at a time when they are in crisis. No one should be incarcerated -- before they've even been tried or convicted of a crime -- simply because they can't afford not to be," Gupta said in a statement. "With this ban, Google is doing its part to protect people from unscrupulous advertisers who are taking advantage of the fact that most people will do whatever they can to avoid having to spend time, or having their family member spend time, in jail."

Google has banned ads for services it considers to be harmful before.

In 2016, the company banned ads from loan services with APRs of 36 percent or higher -- also known as predatory loans -- in the United States